Two of India's neighbours are up in flames...And for a change India has the opportunity to sit back and watch as the events unfold in each of these countries....India can also smile at the fact that unlike itself, its neighbours have not tolerated religious dissent, so when today so-called separatism is raising its head, surprisingly, it has acquired religious hues...
One of the two aforementioned nations is Tibet, & yes, a nation is what it is....Inspite of China's claims & the Indian governments acceptance, Tibet does not belong to China...It is another of those occupied nations, whose people have been denied the right to self determinations, and large portions of whose are forced to live as refugees in other countries...Since the failed uprising of '59, and the ouster and subsequent exile of the Dalai lama, China has unashamedly indulged in what can only be described as 'cultural cleansing' of the Tibetan population. One of the only places in China, which is not Han, China has been quietly engaged in a determined attempt to repopulate the area, to make it more mainstream, make it more Han...
So, one should not be surprised when the Tibetans rose in rebellion the week last....They have subjugated for way too long & in spite of the entire world's sympathy, no benefit has accrued to them....But, what is indeed suprising & somewhat intriguing is that it was the monks wearing maroon robes twho took to the streets to make the voice of the ordinary tibetan heard to the world...Undoubtedly, this voice shall be or has been crushed...Monastries have been forcibly mptied & monks been forced to vacate their prmises..a stark reminder of '59 when Chinese troops committed atrocities on Tibetan monks to subjugate a free nation...And the Chinese government still claims that this arson/riotibng is the work of the Dalai 'Clique'...Well the writing is on the wall....Tibet needs to be free!!!
The other country, I mentioned earlier is Myanmar....Myanmar is truly a country with a sad history...It been under the fist of a military junta since '65 that has seen the country- a land of a thousand pagodas, and the rice bowl of the world...become an impoversihed land governed by fear, terror & muscle power...Thousands of Maynamarese have disappeared & many others are rotting behind iron bars...The treatment meted out to Nobel Laureate Aung San suu Kyi bears testimony to the harshness of the junta' rule...
It was pleasantly surprising to see ordinary Myanmarese out in the streets to protest against a government that has consistently failed to deliver on its promises & has one of the worst track record on Human rights....Not surprisingly, the potests were lead by the monks, who form a very influential & respected order in Myanmar's social hierarchy...Needless to say, the uprising was swiftly crushed....
For a country that does not have enough resources to feed its own people, the capital is being shifted to the middle of nowhere ant a cost of millions of dollars..This is a clear example of the wasteful splurging of money by a notoriously inefficient & unresponsive government...
Bottomline- Religion may be the opuim of the masses but it is also a way to re-establish a social order that is being demolished by modern day despots...
